Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Evening Light over a Cotswold Town

I happened to look out my window the other day and what did I observe? Well the usual things, as you would imagine, seeing as my window is in the same place it’s always been, and the things outside, such as trees and walls etc, are well known for their inclinations to stay put.

So it would come as no surprise to you if the answer to my question about what I observed was ‘I saw exactly the same things in exactly the same places as I always see when I look out of that exact window’. And your lack of bewilderment would be well founded, because that is what I did see. But let me ask you, what if you, or someone you know, or someone you used to know, or maybe someone you once met at a Taste of the Tropics lunch club get-together at the Town Hall, you remember the one, she hogged the mangosteens and frankly, was no better than she ought to be, looked out that window?

I can reveal that they too would have seen exactly the same things, in exactly the same places. I know what you’re thinking; spooky.

Wait a second you’re now thinking (after taking a moment to realise I have just monumentally wasted your time with what is quite obviously drivel,) why are you wasting my time with what is quite obviously drivel?

I knew you were thinking that. But you just hold your horses right there, yes, rein those judgmental, despotic creatures right in and tie them up this instant, I don’t want to hear another loathsome sound from those wicked horses of yours. Fascists!

Funnily enough, horses are actually fascistic by their very nature, and given the choice, will always side with the authoritarian hierarchical viewpoint in any disagreement.

So given their political ideology, whose mythic core in its various permutations is a palingenetic form of populist ultranationalism, it is never a good idea to employ a liberalistic stance in their presence, as it’s likely to make them a bit skittish. This is also why people who own horses tend to enjoy shooting gypsies.

Back to my original theme though, when looking out my window, I saw the same things I always did, but, and here is the big, all important but, there is something out there that does change, and it changes all the time, what could it be?

The weather! Of course it’s the weather, the weird and wonderful weather is always changing, which of course means the light changes, and as we all know, it is the light that makes or breaks a photograph, and it is the tone and the ambience that the light creates which will decide on the mood and atmosphere of the image.

Which is why, when I peered out onto the cotswoldian view before me that evening, I was compelled to unsheathe my camera and make haste to the outside world. You see the weather had been pretty drab all afternoon, but as the day was about to shut up shop the clouds broke and allowed a bit of evening sun to get a look in.

So what follows are three sets of pictures all taken within an hour or so of each other, showing how the landscape changed in front of my very eyes, as the light got warmer and generally more congenial.

Yep, that’s it, that’s all I’ve got for you.

And the pictures aren't even that great to be honest, some aren't even in focus. But concentrate on the light alone, and I guarantee you the time of your life.

Here's a picture of St. John the Baptist church in Burford taken at 7.26pm. As you can see there had been a bit of rain about which produced a rather fine rainbow.

And slightly later at 8.23pm the sun is a lot warmer on the stone and trees.

And finally at 8.37pm the sun has disappeared on this view but has left behind a lovely colour to the clouds.

Taken at 7.16pm, the dark clouds that had not long previously dumped their cargo, created a nice steely blue sky which contrasted well with the sunlit village of Burford below.

Here the sunlight is warming up and catching the lighter foreground clouds at 8.15pm. It also makes a big difference to the cotswold stone, that seems to radiate the light.

Th sun is now just starting to dip below the horizon at 8.28pm and casting an orange glow to the sky, and on the any buildings it catches.

And lastly, at 8.42pm it has completely disappeared, leaving the land in shade under a vibrant looking sky.

Here is a rather grand house in the village of Fulbrook with that dark, unyielding sky behind. Taken at 7.17 there is a slight warmth to the light but not much.

Just over an hour later at 8.22pm the warmth of the light is audaciously palpable, as it bathes everything in a glowing sheen.

And at 8.40pm the land is now quite dull beneath a fairly vivid sky

So there you go, especially for those that have always doubted it; I hope I have satisfactorily proved to you that the light does indeed change throughout the course of the day. And I trust I have now laid that particular argument to rest once and for all and we shall never hear of its like again.